Human oviductal cells and their conditioned medium maintain the motility and hyperactivation of human spermatozoa in vitro

Abstract

The effects of the co-incubation of human oviductal cells with human spermatozoa on the general motility pattern and hyperactivation of spermatozoa in vitro were studied using computer-assisted sperm analysis. Co-incubation preserved ail the sperm motility parameters, with the exception of the percentage of hyperactivation (HA), beat cross frequency (BCF), and the percentage of transitional hyperactivated (THA) spermatozoa, when compared with the initial motility pattern of the spermatozoa. The HA and THA decreased, and BCF increased after co-incubation for 3 h; these levels then remained stable up to 5 h. The control spermatozoa showed a continuous significant change after 5 h incubation. The oviductal cell-conditioned medium maintained all the motility parameters of spermatozoa even after 5 h incubation. These data suggested that human oviductal cells could maintain the motility of spermatozoa in vitro. Similar effects were also observed when conditioned medium was used to treat subnormal spermatozoa.